Let The Spin Begin

Or as I like to say, the death of objectivity. I, along with about 100 million others watched the first Presidential debate last night. I also watched with great interest the post-debate punditry. Let’s get real. If you are a Trump supporter, nothing that happened is likely to change your mind. The same is true for Clinton supporters. However, there is such a thing as objectivity and no reasonable person who truly watched that debate with an open mind can think that Donald Trump got the best of Secretary Clinton. It’s OK to say that your candidate did not do very well but that you still believe in him and his candidacy. One of the lasting effects of the Trump campaign will be that people now refuse to admit the truth or say anything that might be construed as weakness. It is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Donald Trump seems to have an inability to admit that he was wrong about anything. When confronted about any of these statements, his knee jerk reaction is to deny they ever occurred. Does he not realize that we now live in a digital world and that past statements and comments can be retrieved with a simple google search? Ms. Clinton called him out on several past statements and instead of trying to explain his thinking, he just flat out denied them. I am troubled by a man who cannot or will not take ownership of what he has said in the past. History is a linear phenomenon not a slice in time as Mr. Trump would have us believe. Things said in the past must either be defended or explained, not dismissed. This is the problem with a candidate with no set of values or moral compass. Facts are facts and no one can argue the fact that he discounted past statements and obfuscated others.

Conservatives and his supporters said Trump won the debate. Liberals and Clinton supporters said she won. The truth is not somewhere in the middle. Objectively, Ms. Clinton cleaned his clock and there is no denying that fact. Trump appeared to be defensive and rattled from the moment she brought up his father’s loan to Trump to start

his business. He never recovered. My take away from the debates are this: it is perfectly justified and in many cases commendable to admit that you are wrong and either embrace your mistake or defend your position. A man who never makes a mistake never learns anything.